Kentucky State Police will fight ruling that it violated law in Courier Journal case

The Kentucky State Police have a fleet of older Ford Crown Vics and Chevrolet Caprices that have more than 150,000 miles -- some over 200,000 -- with repairs needed that are used for daily patrolling.(Photo: Matt Stone, Louisville Courier Journal)Buy Photo

Kentucky State Police said it plans to appeal a recent attorney general's decision that stated the agency violated open records law when it denied Courier Journal requests for a database of arrest and traffic citations.

"We are appealing this decision and cannot comment further on pending litigation," KSP Sgt. Joshua Lawson said in an email.

The agency has claimed that the records would expose private information and said that it lacked the technical ability to separate legitimately confidential information from public information without creating a new record, which is not required under the law.

The attorney general's office curbed those arguments in an April 17 decision, declaring that the agency has no valid legal reason to refuse Courier Journal a redacted copy of the database, which can easily be produced by the agency.

In her ruling, Assistant Attorney General Michelle D. Harrison rejected that argument, saying the law and past rulings clearly require government agencies to "separate confidential from non-confidential information in order to permit the inspection, examination, or copying of public information" and cannot shift the burden to the requester.

Reporter Justin Price initially requested the data in August 2017. KSP denied that request two days later, saying "any attempt to provide paper copies ... would create an undue burden upon the agency."

The agency ignored a subsequent letter from Courier Journal explaining Price hadn't asked for paper copies and was requesting only fields within the electronic database that are clearly public information under state law.

Courier Journal executive editor Joel Christopher said the public should take notice of KSP's appeal.

“It’s disappointing to see public servants wasting taxpayer dollars to appeal a clear decision,” Christopher said. “Kentucky State Police should not be spending another penny of taxpayer money to try to hide public records.”

Reporter Darcy Costello contributed to this report. Thomas Novelly can be reached at 502-582-4465 or by email at tnovelly@courier-journal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/tomn.